


watch me do this without breaking bones

by kuro49



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Chuck Needs a Hug, Gen, pacific rim kinkmeme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 09:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hansens have never been good at physical contact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	watch me do this without breaking bones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [schweinsty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/schweinsty/gifts).



> Written for the kinkmeme prompt: [Herc & Chuck - AU, Hugs](http://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/350.html?thread=535646#t535646). _No incest, please, just lots of family feels. Stacker sends Chuck out in an escape pod before he blows the thing. Chuck steps off the helicopter, expecting doctors, to see his dad coming towards the helicopter. Cue the biggest, warmest hug EVAR._

There is no break in the sky when the world is saved.

The rain doesn’t even stop. And in the endless fall, it only seems to get heavier by the silent ticks of a clock that has finally stopped. There is no sunshine filtering through, and only the sound of the chopper cutting through the air interrupts the reign of stillness fallen over the last of the Shatterdomes.

Chuck can’t quite make out the landing pad through the rain but he does feel the full body jostle that makes him hurt all over when they land. He doesn’t know what he is expecting, paramedics maybe, or maybe the doctor from the medic bay to give him a quick once over. 

Either way, it isn’t _this_.

The first thing he notices is the wide arc the umbrella makes when his father drops it to the ground. The second is the growing wetness over them. So when his father’s arms come to wrap around him, he supposes it makes sense that the last thing he registers is the actual embrace he is pulled into.

Chuck freezes because they don’t teach you something like this in the program, his voice catching in his chest like a vice.

And from somewhere closer to the vicinity of the Shatterdome, where his dog is sheltered from the rain, Max lets out a bark in recognition of the return of the bloody and battered scent of his favourite human. And just when the man is about to pull away, Max’s barks make Chuck clench his fingers into the back of his father’s jacket in reflex.

"…You don't hug me." Chuck mutters, his voice muffled by the soft collar of his dad’s jacket. His eyes are closed, clenched tight (like he is staring down impending doom once more, except now there is more weighing on his shoulders than the world, that’s his _dad_ holding him to his chest, and for one insane second, this scares him more). “You don’t _hug_ me.”

Chuck repeats that like an accusation, and he doesn’t know how many times, but he doesn’t let go, and neither does his dad. The sound of those four words tumbling off of his tongue like a mantra. Perhaps, this is long overdue. And perhaps, this is exactly what an eleven years old Chuck has been waiting for. But he is twenty-two years old now, and he knows he doesn’t need this, doesn’t _need_ his father’s love.

(But it’s nice to have it, having something he has wanted for so long.)

"No, I don't." Herc holds him closer, holds his son who is years too young to be in this war, let alone win this war for a father who can’t. He feels a fierce heartbeat between them, one for one for one. "But it's about damn time I did."

It’s not an _I love you_ , but it is enough. (Because in all honesty, Chuck wouldn’t know what to do with one even if Herc says it, out loud.)

And there in the midst of a brewing storm, the Hansens find that reaching out, and holding on, isn't so bad after all.

XXX Kuro


End file.
